What Was the Trail of Tears?

Learn about one of the worst tragedies in American history: the Indian Removal Act of 1830.

From 1838 to 1839, thousands of people from the Cherokee Nation and other Indigenous tribes were forced off their homelands because the white settlers believed this land belonged to them. The journey, which became known as the Trail of Tears, took up to six months and saw the Cherokee traveling across rivers, valleys, and mountains for over eight hundred miles in bitter cold and blazing heat. They had little food or water, and many of them died along the way. By the time they made it to their destination in present-day Oklahoma, the Cherokee Nation had suffered huge losses, including cultural disruptions that led them to refer to this long and brutal march as "The Trail Where They Cried."

Author Sean Teuton masterfully explains why this community was forced to relocate and recounts stories from travelers whose lives and cultures were forever changed.

Series Overview: A natural expansion of the exceptional Who Was? series, What Was? focuses on compelling historical events, great battles, protests, and discoveries.